Ishouldbewriting

Joy is Rediscovering a Childhood Favorite and Still Loving It, 3 Mar 2013

I first read Rebirth (the original US title of The Chrysalids) when I was a child and probably didn't get most of the references. I understood the future post-apocalypse part, having already absorbed Twilight Zone reruns and The Outer Limits. Horror movies had made me aware that nuclear attacks could lead to mutations, long before I learned it any science class. I don't know if I would have made any analogies between the fundamentalists in the story and real life fundies as I wasn't exposed to a lot of ultra-religious types.

Because the protagonists are young, this is a tale that would probably today be considered "young adult" although it's a story anyone can enjoy, and everyone… Read more

Great Vacation Read, 31 Jan 2013

I picked this up after seeing an interview with the author on the Indie Views blog. I was intrigued by the premise (explained in some other reviews here).

The first chapter is the novel-within-the-novel -- the story of young actor Henry whose idea for a play about a murderous usurper gets pilfered by Shakespeare. I will confess that this was my favorite chapter. The well researched historical novel that begins the book was superb. (If Collis decided to write the rest of The Scottish Play novel-within, I'd be happy to read it.) Instead we jump to the present and get life-imitating-art when young actor Harry's novel is stolen by a slimy producer in present-day Hollywood… Read more

History as Lived by Imperfect People, 5 April 2011

At over 400 pages and with several story-lines, Harbour, is the type of book you want to sit down with when you have time to savor it. The characters include an elderly drug-lord, his beautiful young wife, a mixed-race girl, a British doctor, a Japanese barber with a secret, an embittered invalid and assorted others. None are especially heroic which is both the novel's strength and probably the reason why it's not a bestseller. If you're a fan of formulaic historical fiction -- the Michener model, this isn't for you. It's character-driven even as history unfolds. Which is not to say, that there isn't plenty of attention to historical detail.

As we read, patterns begin to emerge… Read more